Artists Magazine Annual Art Competition

Steven S. Walker

Landscape + Cityscape

Steven S. Walker, a Signature Member of Oil Painters of America, has been painting for more than 25 years. He earned a B.A. in Fine Arts from the Virginia Commonwealth University, with a concentration in illustration, and then earned an MFA from Marywood University, in Dunmore, Pa. His work has been featured in various juried competitions, and was part of a statewide traveling exhibition with the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. He has also participated in a number of plein air events, including Plein Air South, Forgotten Coast Plein Air, Georgia Colors and the Olmsted Invitational. Walker’s paintings are part of many corporate and private collections.

Zoey Frank

Portrait + Figure

Born in 1987, in Boulder, Col., Zoey Frank is an artist who makes use of patterns and elements of abstraction in large-scale, multifigure compositions. Her work draws on a wide range of approaches to pictorial space from across art history. The artist studied for four years with Juliette Aristides in the Classical Atelier at Gage Academy of Art, in Seattle, Wash., before heading to the Laguna College of Art and Design, in California, where she earned her MFA. Frank has received numerous honors and awards, including three Elizabeth Greenshields grants, the Avigdor Arikha Memorial International Residency Scholarship, and three first-place awards in Manifest Gallery’s International Painting Annual. Her work, which was featured in the Artists Magazine last summer, has also appeared in recent issues of New American Paintings, Hi Fructose, Fine Art Connoisseur, Artists and Illustrators and American Art Collector. In 2023, Frank served as a juror for the Bennett Prize and for the Figurativas award at the MEAM (European Museum of Modern Art), in Barcelona. She’s represented by Sugarlift Gallery, in New York, and Galerie Mokum, in Amsterdam.

Shalese Sands

Animal + Wildlife

Shalese Sands graduated with a degree in Studio Art from Northwestern College, in St. Paul, Minn., in 2011. After 11 years working outside the field of art, she was able to quit her job a few years ago to become a full-time wildlife artist—a lifelong dream fulfilled. The award-winning artist is a Master Scratchboard Artist with the International Society of Scratchboard Artists (ISSA) and a Signature Member of the Society of Animal Artists (SAA). Her work has been featured in various art publications, including Artists Magazine, The Best of Drawing and Southwest Art, and has been juried into many noteworthy shows, such as the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum’s Birds in Art, and the annual ISSA and SAA exhibitions. Sands enjoys traveling to various locations, including multiple trips to Africa and Alaska, to take reference photos for her work. Her art is inspired by these experiences in the field, which deepens the level of connection and the realism. 

Loriann Signori

Abstract + Experimental

Loriann Signori, of Maryland, is recognized as an Eminent Pastelist in the International Association of Pastel Societies (IAPS). Her artwork considers the delicate place where perception shifts, where light breathes upon light, and rather than show an object as it is, she instead evokes the idea through light and atmosphere. A life-long painter, Signori received her BFA from the Swain School of Design, in Massachusetts, and—under full fellowship—an MFA from American University, in Washington, D.C. “The learning continues,” she says.

Todd M. Casey

Still Life, Floral + Interior

Todd M. Casey is an artist, author and teacher who was born and raised in Lowell, Massachusetts. His work is classically styled but progressive in approach, touching on more than simplistic realism. Every painting has a tale to tell, brewed from a deep well of introspective thought. Casey has authored two books, The Art of Still Life and The Oil Painters’ Color Handbook, with publisher Monacelli/Phaidon Press, and he’s currently working on two more titles, due for release in the fall of 2026 and the fall of 2027. He also writes periodically for Artist’s Magazine and International Artist. When not painting, writing or illustrating, Casey teaches at the Lyme Academy of Fine Art in Connecticut, and also offers private online classes and workshops.